My Roommate Stole My Past-Life Hack—I’ll Just Smile at Her Regret Chapter 05

My Roommate Stole My Past-Life Hack—I’ll Just Smile at Her Regret Chapter 05

For a while after that, I was so busy my feet practically never touched the ground.

I left at dawn, got back to the dorm late at night, and dropped straight into bed.

Since I barely crossed paths with Jasmine, she stayed quiet for a few days too.

After pulling an all-nighter to finish the first working version of the product, I slipped back into the dorm that morning as quietly as I could and slept until noon.

Half-awake, I heard Jasmine’s voice.

“Natalie spends all day out there fooling around with different guys. I heard from someone in student government that she’s making money off it too.”

Lucy sounded hesitant. “No way. Mason said they’ve been working on a project lately…”

Jasmine let out a scornful laugh. “And you actually believe a man? I warned you about this last time. Mason is with her every single day. What about you? How long has it been since you last saw him?”

Lily had never exactly gotten along with Jasmine. “Don’t go spreading rumors when you don’t have proof.”

Jasmine raised her voice. “Rumors? Then what about all those unopened designer cosmetics on her desk? Could she ever have afforded that stuff before?”

I opened my eyes and yanked my bed curtain aside. “Jasmine, are you some kind of motor-mouth? Why do you never shut up?”

Lucy looked awkward. “Natalie, you were in the dorm? We thought you left this morning.”

Jasmine was nothing if not all mouth. “How was I supposed to know you were shameless enough to lie there in bed and eavesdrop?”

I glanced at the time and could not be bothered to argue with her. I scrambled out of bed, washed up as fast as I could, grabbed my laptop, and rushed downstairs.

Bennett Sterling was already waiting outside the dorm. “What took you so long? We’re going to be late.”

He was tall and striking enough that girls passing by kept sneaking glances at him.

“Wait here. I’ll go get the car.”

A moment later, Bennett’s Ferrari pulled up beside me with a roar, instantly drawing a crowd.

I looked up toward the dorm building and caught sight of half of Jasmine’s face peeking out from upstairs.

Under her knife-sharp stare, I opened the passenger door and got into the Ferrari.

Bennett had been Jasmine’s first husband in my last life.

On the second day after I was reborn, I signed up for a cultural entrepreneurship program our school was running with the city heritage museum to promote traditional leaf-carving art.

I decided to build a lightweight mobile game with a visual style modeled after that craft.

Truthfully, I had already had that idea in my last life.

Back then, though, I knew nothing about coding or design. I had no resources and no connections, so I gave up before I even started.

This time, with my ability to increase men’s goodwill toward me, I talked two talented programmers into building the game for free, persuaded a gifted underclassman from the art school to handle the visual design for free, and got the student body president to help us secure free workspace.

With that ragtag team in place, we got started.

We were all college students living on tight budgets, so the early expenses were barely manageable.

But I wanted more than just a polished student project.

I wanted paid user acquisition, real promotion, and an actual launch.

The game’s visual style was distinctive, and the gameplay was simple and addictive.

I was sure it could succeed commercially.

It could promote traditional folk art and earn us our first real windfall.

But polishing the game and promoting it properly would take a lot more funding.

That was when I set my sights on Bennett.

He was the richest heir on campus, and in my last life, Jasmine’s first marriage had been to him.

He had money to burn and absolutely no interest in our project.

I tried talking him into it every way I could, but when that failed, I had no choice but to use my cheat code and push his goodwill toward me a little higher.

One second, he was walking straight past me with a cold expression. “Not interested.”

The next, he stopped, turned back, and a flicker of interest lit his eyes. “But go ahead. Let me hear it.”

That was how Bennett got roped into my little operation.

With him on board, our hardware improved dramatically, and our day-to-day meals got a lot better too.

Everyone was happier, and our efficiency doubled.

We entered the citywide entrepreneurship competition, and that afternoon was the final round.

Bennett drove like the wind and got me there just in time.

Under the gaze of countless eyes, I smiled and stepped onto the presentation stage.

Quickly, news that I had won the top prize in the entrepreneurship competition was posted on the school website.

At the same time, an anonymous post titled [Natalie Seduced Bennett and Became the Other Woman] exploded across the campus forum.